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Thread: Steam

  1. #1
    read my comic already! (sig) xRyokenx's Avatar
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    Default Steam

    Okay, will someone please clarify this for me? My dad constantly bitches at me for having Steam up while he's playing Age of Conan all day long because his latency randomly spikes.

    Does Steam upload games to other people? From what I understand, they have their own servers hosting all the data.

    This probably won't help the problem I have with my man-child father, but it will at least clarify whether or not Steam is causing the problem with his game or not.

    Thanks,
    Anthony

  2. #2
    Measure once, curse twice nevermind1534's Avatar
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    Default Re: Steam

    Steam does not use P2P. They're not that greedy yet. Selling games pays for their servers. It may, however, download game updates on its own, but it doesn't upload games to other people.

    Tell him to check your enet (unless you have wireless) activity light if he doesn't believe it.
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  3. #3
    read my comic already! (sig) xRyokenx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Steam

    Thanks. I'm looking at the network activity in the task manager and it's using hardly anything at all. A couple days ago, my brother was actually downloading Ubuntu with a torrent with pretty good upload and download speeds and my dad's game was running fine. I just wanted someone to confirm what I already thought.

  4. #4
    Undead Pirate d_stilgar's Avatar
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    Default Re: Steam

    I'm pretty sure the default setting is for updates to pause when you are in a steam game. Can't tell you for sure without checking though.

  5. #5
    Ceann na Drochaide Bige! XcOM's Avatar
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    Default Re: Steam

    steam does not use any bandwidth at all when open, it checks the server for new steam updates when run and downloads it after you click yes, game updates are checked when you try to run the game, so you see, bandwidth usage is nill when not in game online.

    Best way is to run steam in offline mode and see if he game still acts up, then when he blamed steam you can say, hay, its not running,
    And steam has a bandwidth monitor built in too


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  6. #6
    read my comic already! (sig) xRyokenx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Steam

    He's come in to complain to me when I've just turned my computer on, before I've even logged in. I think either our ISP (Earthlink/Embarq/Centurylink) or his game's server occasionally has lag. I also have put the task manager on the quicklaunch bar so I can monitor the network usage and it normally stays below 1% and rarely gets above 10% (I have wireless G, by the way).

  7. #7
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: Steam

    LOL.. tell him to turn off Windows Automatic Updates on his computer.

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  8. #8
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    Default Re: Steam

    We have a similar type of issue. It is when our HP Mini is online (Wireless). My dad says he can tell when it's on because the internet is slower. We aren't running anything but Win7 and yahoo messenger on it. It may not be steam related.

    The random spikes may just be the segment your house is on in the neighborhood. If there is a peak time that a lot of people are getting on or downloading, it may reflect in brief spikes for him. Are they effecting his game? or is he just monitoring the latency and seeing it spike?

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  9. #9
    read my comic already! (sig) xRyokenx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Steam

    It's usually during peak hours. I'm thinking it could be our ISP, his game's server, or both. A few months back, our internet would cut out for hours at a time.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Steam

    If the game server he is playing on is low/mid grade, it may get hiccups which will cause the spikes.

    Have you contacted your ISP? We had our lines chewed by squirrels at the pole and would cause very slow speeds or no internet at all. They had to run a new line from the pole into the house. They should be able to send someone out to test the actual quality of the in/out signal from your house, not just the tech support sitting in his lounger telling you he can see you connected just fine.

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